Students at a Stockport school learned about green careers when James Harries from Ricardo Energy and Environment came to deliver a talk.

Sixty Year 10 students from St James Catholic High School in Cheadle Hulme listened to James speak about his work, which includes climate change measurement and climate action planning.

They heard about a recent venture James headed up, supporting the Scottish Government’s Carbon Neutral Islands project. The project’s aim is for six Scottish islands – Hoy, Islay, Great Cumbrae, Raasay, Barra and Yell – to become carbon neutral by 2040.

Students were fascinated to hear that the project drew on Ricardo’s experience supporting island communities across the world to reduce their carbon emissions and integrate more renewable energy – including work with Pacific islands, in the Caribbean, on Bermuda, the Shetland Islands and many British Overseas Territories.

James is an associate director of international consultancy Ricardo, which has an office on Manchester Science Park. He was previously a policy advisor for the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Dominique Rarity, assistant head, St James Catholic High School, said: “James gave a fascinating talk about sustainability and environmentally-based careers and gave real insight about possible future options for our young people.

”We very much enjoyed having him here and look forward to hearing from other State Talking speakers.”

Fran Kennedy, founder, State Talking, said: “The climate emergency is high on many students’ agendas and James’ talk was very well received.

“Hearing from him helped students to understand that they can play an important role in addressing climate change through their choice of career”.